BBM and Don Quixote
by retropian (Thu Dec 14 2006 05:20:43) UPDATED Thu Dec 14 2006 05:24:46
I recently watched "Lonesome Dove" a 1989 television miniseries adapted from the Larry McMurtry novel. Included among the DVD's extras is an interview with Larry McMurtry. In it he discusses the "buddy" or "best friends" motif in literature and how it is derived from and influenced
by the 400 year old novel "Don Quixote".
Jack and Ennis came to mind immediately. There has been so much discussion about their characters and how they compliment and augment each other. Larry M's discussion helps to place Jack and Ennis within the context of western literature, and certainly offers insight into what he, Annie Proulx and Diane Ossana where up to. It is easy to see the dynamic between Jack and Ennis as reflections of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. One is the dreamer, one is the realist. Larry M goes on to point out that usually however, but not always, the characters change places. He was talking about the Lonesome Dove characters Gus and Woodrow, but it fits Jack and Ennis too. The realist is transformed into the dreamer by the end of the tale, or rather they trade some quality or virtue. It is Jack who is tilting at windmills; he is quixotic in his quest to live the sweet life with Ennis. So is Ennis transformed at the end? Does he take up Jacks dream for his own? Can we hope that he does? Or is there another layer of tragedy here in that he doesn't take up the dream and he isn't transformed, but merely regrets that he cannot do either?
I think this is another reason why so many seem to connect to Jack. He is the striver, the dreamer, the one who wont give up. I think other than the Jack/Christ motif we have another explanation as to why this movie has been life transforming for so many. Besides tapping into the western literary tradition, which is so ingrained as to pass unnoticed by so many, it performs as a masterpiece of art. The goal of a story like Don Quixote or Brokeback Mountain is to have the readers or audience identify with the Sancho Panza character, and like him become transformed into the dreamer. I know I am one among many who identified with Ennis, who saw himself reflected to a large degree in that character and now strive to be more like Jack, to dream, to tilt at windmills.
Any thoughts?
"And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star".
(from “The Impossible Dream”)
Re: BBM and Don Quixote
by malina-5 (Thu Dec 14 2006 17:42:14) I have a lot of thoughts which I sadly don't have time to go into right now, but I was particularly struck by this:
<<The goal of a story like Don Quixote or Brokeback Mountain is to have the readers or audience identify with the Sancho Panza character, and like him become transformed into the dreamer.>>
This totally feels true. There is something transformative about the whole BBM experience, no doubt about it. Maybe that's another piece of why this whole thing is so engaging.
Of course that makes me think of Parseval again - he was simple, almost a fool, untouched by society, but he could do what no one else could.
A part of me resists the Quixote comparison because what Quixote tried to do was unrealistic, delusional, and to me, Jack is above all right in his insistance that he and Ennis could have and should have had a life together. I don't see that as tilting at windmills, necessarily, but just standing up for what is natural and rational and true.
On the other hand, that doesn't mean that Jack wasn't a dreamer, too. And certainly - I think you're right on in implying that there's something about Jack's character that's meant to 'transform' the reader or audience, as it does Ennis.
...it's easier to change the sheets/ than change what's in your head
- The Ne-er-do-Wells
Re: BBM and Don Quixote
by tiffanykk2002 (Thu Dec 14 2006 18:04:03) Don Quixote is one of my favorite novels. I actually wrote a paper on the friendship aspect a couple of years ago.
Anyway, the comparisons seem a little far reaching. I can see the relationships hinging on one another, unable to exist without the other but...I guess agree with Malina in Quixote being delusional and unwavering among anything else. Even more so than being a dreamer he was simply lost in his own head.
Jack is definitely a dreamer, but still very sound. Ennis is a realist sure, but definitely more from a cynical point of view.
Plus, with them being lovers it makes it hard to compare the relationships, particularly when one pair is ridiculed by society and the other pair has good reason to fear for their lives.
Re: BBM and Don Quixote
by dirtymama 1 day ago (Mon Jun 18 2007 21:22:39) Superb, malina!
hi Malina and Tiffany
by retropian (Thu Dec 14 2006 19:11:48) Well, I've never actually read Don Quixote, I was just commenting of Larry McMurtry's opinion or observation that in western literature novels or stories where friends or duos of some kind are the primary characters follow a pattern similar to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. It is a archetype in literature where one character has a quality that defines him that the other lacks and during the course of the tale the two friends trade that trait, but not always.
I'm not saying Jack is an exact match for Don Quixote or that Ennis exactly matches Sancho Panza, just that each has characteristics the other does not. It seems to be generally accepted that Jack is the dreamer here and Ennis more of the realist. Jack wants to live without fear and Ennis cannot find a way to do that. There has been much discussion of J&E's Yin/Yang qualities in relation to each other. What I mean by Jacks "tilting at windmills" is his perseverance, his unwillingness to let go of his love for Ennis. He is always hopeful that someday they can be together. The windmill is of course Ennis's internalized fear and homophobia.
Re: hi Malina and Tiffany
by malina-5 (Thu Dec 14 2006 19:44:02) UPDATED Thu Dec 14 2006 19:45:11
<<It is a archetype in literature where one character has a quality that defines him that the other lacks and during the course of the tale the two friends trade that trait, but not always. >>
I definitely see this happening in BBM. Actually, I started a thread about something similar a while ago.. I'm not sure how far down it is now, but I'll try and bump it in case you haven't seen it. It was called something like "It's because of you I'm like this, Ennis!"
but... I just realized, that was about Jack taking on Ennis's characteristics. I think we do see it happening the other way around, too - and that's the completion.
<<The windmill is of course Ennis's internalized fear and homophobia. >>
oh.. yes, that is nicely put, and true, I think.
I haven't really read Don Quixote either - at least, not all of it - but I feel like I have!
...it's easier to change the sheets/ than change what's in your head
- The Ne-er-do-Wells
Re: hi Malina and Tiffany
by tiffanykk2002 (Thu Dec 14 2006 19:59:38) C'mon you guys you gotta read Don Quixote! Sure it's like a million pages long, but it's such a great read. Maybe that's why I'm so conflicted with the comparison because Quixote is such a unique story, and a LOT more lighthearted than BBM by far.
Interesting nonetheless! A good comparison might also be "Waiting for Godot".
Re: hi Malina and Tiffany
by retropian (Fri Dec 15 2006 05:09:32) I'll have to read it for sure. So many books, never enough time, never enough.
Re: BBM and Don Quixote
by alex-gowans (Fri Dec 15 2006 12:17:44) Hey Retropian!
Not that having someone else write the same thing makes one's own pronouncements any more true or important, but I am obscurely tickled to see you, too, refer to Jack as Don Quixote. In the "I'm such a Jack" thread I commented that "Jack tilted at life's windmills." The collective unconscious strikes again, eh?
Hi alex-gowans
by retropian (Fri Dec 15 2006 17:16:29)
LOL! I did not see that post of yours! I certainly am not taking credit for the Don Quixote observation, that was Larry McMurtry's circa 1989. But you came up with it on your own. I thought that offered an insight into what he and Diana O and Annie P had in mind when creating Jack and Ennis and developing the screenplay. Yes, Jack was always tilting at life's windmills. A reason we love him.
Re: BBM and Don Quixote
by darkoKnight33 (Thu Feb 22 2007 12:45:03) bump so as to read later my friends...
Re: bump
by garycottle (Thu Feb 22 2007 13:56:51) Thanks for bumping this. I must have missed it when it was first posted. Very interesting idea and worth thinking about.
